%%* 


SAMUEL  W.  ALLERTON 

OK 


SYSTEMATIC 

FARMING 


A  Short  Treatise  on  Present 

Farming  Conditions  and 

How  to  Improve  Them 


RAND,  McNALLY  &   COMPANY 
1907 


i 


frk 


5SD/ 


11  He  who  showeih  his  neighbor 
how  to  better  existing  condi- 
tions is  a  public  benefactor.'' 


M372JU31 


Preface 

Coming  from  Nebraska  recently, 
my  son  said  to  me,  "Father,  you 
should  write  a  book  on  farming, 
for  you  have  given  me  lessons  in 
farming,  and  I  raise  double  the 
amount  of  oats  and  corn  the  farmers 
do  in  Illinois,  and  my  land  is  no 
better  than  my  neighbors'.  If  you 
can  write  a  book  and  show  the 
farmers  how  they  can  improve  their 
systems  of  farming,  you  will  be  a 
great  public  benefactor,  and  increase 
the  value  of  farm  land  in  Illinois  by 
teaching  how  to  make  the  land 
better  instead  of  poorer  every  year." 

Having  lived  on  a  farm  for  twelve 
years — from  the  time  I  was  fourteen 
years  old  to  the  twenty-sixth  year 
of  my  life — having  plowed,  mowed, 
cradeled,  and  done  every  kind  of 
work  connected  with  a  farm,   and 

5 


having  owned  and  operated  farms 
practically  all  my  life,  I  feel  that 
this  experience  gives  me  some  knowl- 
edge of  farming,  and  enables  me  to 
present  some  practical  ideas  to  those 
who  may  be  interested  in  my  con- 
clusions. I  notice  that  the  rich 
farmers  are  the  men  who  have  sys- 
tems and  keep  their  land  in  a  high 
state  of  cultivation.  The  farmer 
with  no  system,  and  land  worn  out, 
is  the  poor  farmer. 

Samuel  W.  Allerton. 

Chicago,  Nov.  17,  1906. 


SYSTEMATIC     FARMING 


T  FEEL  it  is  the  duty  of  every  man 
who  has  had  any  experience  in 
cultivating  soil  to  give  publicity  to 
his  efforts  and  progress  along  this 
line,  and  thus  add  to  the  success  of 
the  American  farmer. 

It  is  a  well-established  fact  that 
Illinois,  as  a  corn  State,  is  the  richest 
body  of  corn  land  in  the  United 
States.  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois,  Iowa, 
Wisconsin,  Nebraska,  and  Missouri 
constitute  the  corn  belt.  All  are 
great  States,  and  naturally  very  rich, 
productive  land.  We  see  that  the 
great  State  of  Illinois  averages  only 
about  thirty-three  bushels  to  the 
acre  in  a  good  corn  year.  What 
does  this  indicate?  That  the  land 
has  not  been  properly  cultivated  and 
kept  in  a  suitable  condition  to  raise 
large  crops  of  corn. 

7 


SYSTEMATIC     FARMING 

GRADUALLY  KILLING  THE  LAND 

Every  man  familiar  with  raising 
corn  knows  that  80  bushels  per  acre 
can  be  raised  as  easily  as  30  bushels 
per  acre,  if  the  land  is  properly 
cultivated.  With  all  the  big  crops 
we  raise — corn,  oats,  wheat,  rye, 
barley,  and  flax — under  our  present 
system  of  general  farming  (there 
are  exceptions)  we  are  reducing 
the  production  3  per  cent  yearly. 
Prof.  Hopkins  of  the  University  of 
Illinois  claims  the  great,  rich  State 
of  Illinois  will  be  a  desert  within 
one  hundred  years  unless  we  change 
our  system  of  farming.  How  does 
he  prove  it  ?  He  has  a  plot  of  ground 
which  he  has  planted  to  corn  for  the 
last  twenty-eight  years.  In  a  few 
years  it  will  be  exhausted,  and  will 
raise  neither  corn  or  clover.  He 
has  two  plots,  and  raises  corn  on 
one   and  oats  on   the   other  every 


SYSTEMATIC     FARMING 

GRADUALLY  KILLING  THE  LAND 

other  year.  This  is  the  system  that 
most  of  our  farmers  follow — plow 
their  oat  stubble  in  the  fall,  plant 
corn  the  next  year,  and  sow  their 
oats  on  the  corn  stubble. 

These  two  strips  are  as  fine  land 
as  there  is  in  Illinois,  and  yet  raise 
only  30  bushels  of  corn  per  acre  and 
30  bushels  of  oats,  and  lose  about 
3  per  cent  every  year  in  producing  a 
crop,  and,  obviously,  in  thirty  years 
will  be  exhausted.  He  has  other 
plots  where  he  plants  clover  one 
year,  corn  and  oats  the  next  year, 
and  in  this  way  raises  60  bushels  per 
acre;  he  has  still  other  plots  where 
he  plants  corn,  oats,  and  clover,  with 
fertilizer,  and  raises  90  bushels  per 
acre. 

These  facts  have  been  demon- 
strated by  the  State  Agricultural 
Society  at  Champaign.     These  being 


SYSTEMATIC     FARMING 

GRADUALLY  KILLING  THE  LAND 

facts,  has  not  the  time  come  when 
the  farmers  of  the  great  Northwest 
should  do  a  little  thinking  and  study 
how  to  improve  their  land? 

In  the  State  of  Maine,  where  the 
soil  is  of  a  very  poor  quality,  they 
raise  a  greater  quantity  per  acre 
than  we  do  in  the  great  State  of 
Illinois.  These  facts  must  certainly 
convince  every  intelligent  farmer 
that  we  must  return  something  to 
the  soil,  and  that  we  cannot  con- 
stantly reduce  it  without  serious 
consequences.  Probably  70  per  cent 
of  the  corn  land  in  Illinois  has  been 
cultivated  for  the  last  twenty-eight 
years  in  this  way — oats  one  year, 
corn  the  next  year,  with  really 
nothing  returned  to  the  soil. 


10 


SYSTEMATIC     FARMING 

FIVE-FIELD  SYSTEM 

Take  the  average  farmer  who  has 

1 60  acres  of  land:  he  may  raise  about 

seventy  acres  of  corn  and  seventy 

acres  of  oats.     His  gross  sales  will 

not  be  much  over  $1,200.    He  should 

divide  his  160  acres  of  land  into  five 

fields  of  30  acres  each,  allowing  10 

acres  for  a  house,  barn,  and  garden. 

Keep  100  good  ewes;  have  60  acres 

in  corn,  60  acres  in  grass,  30  acres 

in  rye  or  oats;  keep  20  good  brood 

sows;  raise    100   pigs,    and   arrange 

to  have  the  pigs  come  in  the  last  of 

February    or    the    first    of    March. 

In  this  way  his  land  would  be  kept 

in  a  rich  state,  and  he  would  be  sure 

to  raise  75  bushels  of  corn  per  acre 

(unless  he   had  an  excessively  dry 

July    and    August)    and    he    would 

probably  raise  about  30  bushels  of 

rye  to  the  acre. 

It  would  be  better  to  sow  rye, 
11 


SYSTEMATIC     FARMING 

FIVE-FIELD    SYSTEM 

because  he  would  be  sure  to  get  a 

better  set  of  clover  than  after  oats. 

If  he  raised  ioo  good  market  lambs, 

they  would  be  worth  $500;  his  wool 

should  bring  $150;  he  should  raise 

100    hogs    to    weigh    200    pounds, 

worth  $1,200;  his  rye  crop  would  be 

worth  $400  at  least,  and  he  should 

raise   about   4,500  bushels  of  corn, 

half  of  which  he  would  feed  to  his 

hogs  and  horses,  leaving  about  2,000 

bushels  to  sell,  which  should  yield 

$800  more.     This  would  make  his. 

gross  sales  amount  to  $3,050,  and 

his  land  would  be  growing  richer 

every  year  instead  of  poorer,  as  it 

is  now.     His  corn  fodder,  properly 

cared   for,    would   be   much   better 

feed  for  his   stock  than  hay.     He 

would  have  60  acres  in  grass,  and 

he  could  divide  off  10  acres,  with  a 

temporary  fence,  for  a  meadow. 
12 


SYSTEMATIC     FARMING 

DAIRY  COWS 

There  is  no  doubt  but  what  a 
farmer  with  160  to  240  acres  of  land 
in  Northern  Illinois  ought  to  keep 
cows,  as  that  is  the  best  stock  if  he  is 
within  a  reasonable  distance  of  the 
market  for  his  milk;  for,  with  the 
system  I  have  laid  out,  he  would 
keep  his  land  in  a  state  of  high 
cultivation  with  the  cows.  I  am 
informed  that  cows  kept  in  a  barn 
and  soiled  in  summer  will  give  more 
milk  than  those  running  in  pasture. 

STEERS 

A  farmer  with  160  acres  of  land, 
living  a  good  distance  from  the 
market,  could  keep  40  steers  if 
he  soiled  them  in  the  summer.  A 
farmer  keeping  steers  would  want  a 
barn  42  feet  wide,  60  feet  long,  with 
an  alley  12  feet  wide  through  the 
center,  leaving  a  shed  1 5  feet  wide  on 
13 


SYSTEMATIC     FARMING 

STEERS 

each  side,  with  a  yard  30  feet  on  each 
side,  and  a  water  trough  on  each 
side.  This  would  give  the  steers  a 
chance  to  walk  in  the  sun,  which  is 
of  great  importance  in  fattening 
them.  With  a  12 -foot  loft  over 
the  shed  he  could  use  this  space  to 
store  his  corn  fodder  in. 

In  the  summer  let  him  mow  his 
green  clover  and  soil  his  cattle.  On 
his  corn  fodder,  cut  up,  a  little 
clover  hay  and  five  ears  of  corn  each 
day,  his  cattle  would  grow  all  win- 
ter. During  the  months  of  May  and 
June  feed  them  a  peck  of  corn  each 
day;  then  he  would  have  a  lot  of 
fat  cattle,  and  not  feed  over  40 
bushels  of  corn  to  a  steer.  If  his 
farm  is  rich  Illinois  land,  he  would 
probably  raise  80  acres  of  corn,  40 
acres  of  clover,  and  40  acres  of  rye, 
and,  with  the  manure  and  a  little 
14 


SYSTEMATIC     FARMING 


STEERS 


commercial  fertilizer,  would  keep  his 
land  up  in  good  shape. 

80  acres  of  corn  at   75 

bushels  per  acre  would 

be 6,000  bu. 

To  feed  cattle,  horses,  and 

hogs  would  take 3,600   " 

Leaving  to  sell.  .      2,400  bu. 

2,400  bu.  corn  at  $0.40 

would  be    $    960 

40  steers  should  bring ....  1 ,600 

100  hogs  should  bring.  .  .  1,200 

30  acres  of  clover  seed 

should  produce 270 

30   acres   of   rye   should 

produce 360 

$4,39o 
Expenses : 

Two  men $720 

General  expenses  ...    200 

Grocery  bill 200 

Interest  on  money  in- 
vested in  cattle . .  .     96         $1,216 
Leave  a  net  profit  of        $3,174 

'5 


SYSTEMATIC     FARMING 

STEERS 

As  a  general  rule,  I  think  a  small 
farmer  better  keep  a  good  flock  of 
ewes  or  cows  than  to  handle  steers; 
but  if  he  has  a  fancy  for  steers  and 
knows  how  to  buy  and  care  for 
them,  he  can  make  money  with 
them. 

DRY  FARMING 

To  raise  a  crop  of  corn  the  land 
should  be  well  cultivated  before 
planting;  it  can't  be  made  too  fine 
and  in  too  good  a  condition  before 
planting.  If  the  ground  is  properly 
prepared  a  crop  of  corn  can  be 
raised  much  easier,  and  if  kept 
mellow,  a  crop  of  corn  can  be  raised 
without  much  rain.  You  have  prob- 
ably read  about  dry  farming  in 
Colorado  and  Western  Kansas. 
The  farmers  plow  their  land  as  deep 
as  possible,  and  keep  the  top  of  the 

16 


SYSTEMATIC     FARMING 

DRY  FARMIBG 

soil  mellow  so  as  to  retain  the 
moisture,  and  in  this  way  they  raise 
a  crop  with  very  little  rain. 

$ioo-ACRE  LAND 

It  is  a  common  remark:  "I  can  not 
afford  to  keep  live  stock  on  $100- 
acre  land,"  but  this  is  a  great  mis- 
take. The  farmer  who  keeps  his 
land  in  corn  will  wear  out  the  soil 
in  a  few  years  so  he  can  raise  only 
half  a  crop,  and  the  land  will  grow 
poorer  every  year.  I  worked  one 
of  my  farms  on  the  four-field  system. 
I  had  2 ,000  acres  of  corn  which  only 
shelled  out  62  bushels  per  acre. 
One  piece  had  been  in  grass  for  three 
years,  and  that  shelled  out  90  bush- 
els per  acre;  so  I  am  about  con- 
vinced that  I  will  have  to  adopt  a 
new  system — have  five  fields  instead 
of  four.  Illinois  as  a  State  in  a  few 
*7 


SYSTEMATIC     FARMING 

$xoo-ACRE    LAND 

years  would  raise  more  corn  if  it 
only  raised  half  the  acres,  and  kept 
part  of  the  land  in  grass.  This  I  have 
no  doubt  of. 

LACK  OF  TILING  AND  CROP 
ROTATION 

Coming  from  Omaha,  and  riding 
through  Eastern  Iowa  and  Northern 
Illinois,  I  saw  a  beautiful  country, 
but  I  know  the  corn  will  not 
average  30  bushels  per  acre.  Eastern 
Iowa  and  Northern  Illinois  need 
tiling,  but  I  did  not  see  a  drainage- 
tile  factory  anywhere  in  that  district. 
No  man  could  wish  for  a  more 
beautiful  country  and  richer  soil. 
If  tiled  and  farmed  by  rotation,  all 
this  land  should  raise  75  bushels  of 
corn  per  acre.  I  saw  no  farm  that 
seemed   to   be   laid    out   with    any 

regard  to  system  of  lots.     The  whole 
18 


SYSTEMATIC     FARMING 

LACK  OF  TILING  AND  CROP  ROTATION 

thing  seems  to  be  run  on  a  hap- 
hazard, go-as-you-like-it  plan.  On 
any  of  these  good  160-acre  farms  30 
cows  could  be  kept  by  being  soiled, 
as  easy  as  15  cows  if  pastured,  as 
cattle  running  in  pasture  fields  tread 
out  more  or  less  grass  and  stomp 
the  ground,  which  is  bad  for  it. 

RECLAIMING  LANDS 

The  Government  is  spending  large 
amounts  of  money  for  irrigation. 
If  the  State  of  Iowa  would  pass  a 
drainage  law  the  same  as  Illinois 
has,  issue  four  per  cent  bonds  which 
they  could  sell,  and  loan  the  money 
to  the  farmers  to  drain  the  Missouri 
bottom  by  making  proper  canals 
and  outlets  for  the  rivers,  they 
would  make  more  good  acres  of  land 
than  the  Government  will  by  spend- 
ing millions  of  dollars  for  irrigation. 
19 


SYSTEMATIC     FARMING 

RECLAIMING  LANDS 

With  proper  outlets  for  the  water, 
the  farmers  in  the  Missouri  bottom 
would  soon  pay  back  to  the  State  all 
they  had  borrowed  to  carry  out  this 
system,  for  then  they  would  possess 
some  of  the  finest  lands  in  the  world. 
Necessarily,  the  farmers  must  begin 
to  think,  and  send  men  to  the  legis- 
lature in  their  interest  and  in  the 
State's  best  interest.  Wouldn't  it 
be  better  to  let  the  farmers  have 
their  own  drainage  districts  and  do 
the  work  themselves,  as  they  would 
probably  do  the  same  work  at  one- 
half  the  cost  the  State  would  do 
it  for? 

THE  FARMER  IS  KING 

People  generally  think  that  farm- 
ing is  a  laborious  occupation,  but  by 
the  ingenuity  of  our  manufacturers 
the    burden    of    farming    has    been 

20 


SYSTEMATIC     FARMING 

THE  FARMER  IS  KING 

reduced  so  that  very  little  hard, 
laborious  work  is  done  on  a  farm. 
In  fact,  it  is  the  most  independent 
life  a  man  can  lead;  and,  with  rural 
free  delivery,  the  farmer  can  know 
what  is'  going  on  in  the  world  by 
taking  a  good  newspaper.  Life  on  a 
farm  gives  children  a  good  constitu- 
tion, and,  with  our  free  schools,  their 
opportunities  are  better  than  those 
of  the  boy  raised  in  the  city.  So 
far  as  living  is  concerned,  the  farmer 
is  ioo  per  cent  better  off  than  half 
the  people  living  in  cities.  I  took  a 
friend  of  mine  down  on  a  farm  once, 
and  he  remarked  that  he  supposed 
he  would  not  get  much  to  eat.  I 
said,  as  he  was  raised  in  Vermont, 
he  could  probably  get  along  with  a 
rind  of  pork,  and  bread  and  milk. 
He  replied  he  could  get  along  if  he 
got  plenty  of  good  bread  and  milk. 

21 


SYSTEMATIC     FARMING 

THE  FARMER  IS  KING 

We  drove  up  to  a  farm-house  and  I 
told  the  lady  we  would  like  some 
dinner.  She  said  it  would  be  ready 
in  two  hours.  After  my  friend  ate 
his  dinner  he  commenced  writing, 
and  I  asked  him  what  it  was  about. 
He  said  he  was  making  note  of  the 
fact  that  although  he  had  eaten  at 
Delmonico's  and  Kinsley's,  and  a 
good  many  other  places,  this  was 
the  finest  dinner  he  had  ever  eaten. 
There  were  thirty-seven  different 
dishes  on  the  table,  and  all  raised 
on  the  farm,  except  the  coffee,  sugar, 
salt,  and  spices.  A  good  garden 
every  farmer  ought  to  have.  If  he 
would  have  a  long  garden,  so  he 
could  cultivate  it  with  a  horse  hoe, 
and  plant  his  vegetables  in  rows, 
he  would  always  have  the  finest 
vegetables  in  the  world,  while  those 
in  the  city  are,  in  a  measure,  stale. 


SYSTEM  A  TIC     FARMING 

FERTILIZERS 

Professor  Hopkins  advises  buying 
Tennessee  phosphate  rock  for  fer- 
tilizer, but  as  a  rule  fertilizers  are 
very  expensive  for  the  average  farmer 
to  buy.  Therefore,  any  farmer  who 
would  divide  his  farm  into  five 
fields,  keep  two  in  pasture,  one  in 
rye  and  two  in  corn,  utilize  all  the 
manure  he  has,  would  maintain  his 
land,  and,  I  think,  improve  it  each 
year  without  fertilizers,  and  in  a  few 
years  raise  more  corn  on  60  acres 
than  he  now  does  on  80  acres,  and 
raise  a  very  much  larger  crop  of 
oats  or  rye.  I  consider  this  system 
well  adapted  to  Illinois,  Iowa,  Ohio, 
Indiana,  Wisconsin,  and  Missouri. 
Traveling  through  the  old  world, 
China  or  Japan,  you  find  that  when 
they  market  their  products  they 
always  take  something  back  to  fer- 
tilize their  soil.  Necessity  has 
23 


SYSTEMATIC     FARMING 

FERTILIZERS 

taught  them  this,  and  should  we  not 

begin  to  think  of  our  situation  with 

this  fact  before  us — the  fact  that 

Illinois   raises    only    30    bushels    of 

oats  and  30  bushels  of  corn  per  acre. 

This  is  a  fact  that  we  cannot  ignore. 

I  know  that  farmers  sometimes  get 

into  a  rut,  and  it  is  hard  work  for 

them  to  change,  but  the  only  thing 

to  do  is  to  recognize  these  mistakes 

and    correct    them.     Don't    try    to 

plant  so  many  acres,  but  raise  more 

corn    on   less    acres.     I    think   this 

applies  to  all  of  our  great  corn  states. 

Of  course,  there  is  a  great  variety 

of  soils  in  the  different  states,  and 

generally  the  farmer  knows  what  is 

the  best  crop  to  raise  on  his  land, 

but  take  the  great    states   I   have 

named,  and  corn  and  oats  are  the 

best    products.     Nature's    law    has 

arranged  things  so  that  we  can  keep 
24 


SYSTEMATIC     FARMING 

FERTILIZERS 

our  land  in  a  state  of  high  cultiva- 
tion by  the  proper  rotation  of  crops. 
I  have  one  farm  on  which  corn  was 
raised  on  clover  sod  and  yielded  82 
bushels  to  the  acre.  The  next  year 
this  same  land  was  planted  again  to 
corn  and  yielded  only  56  bushels  to 
the  acre.  A  farmer  adjoining  me, 
with  just  as  good  land  as  mine,  as 
fine  as  there  is  in  the  State  of  Illinois, 
has  corn  that  will  yield  only  25 
bushels  to  the  acre.  He  is  one  of 
the  farmers  with  the  system  of  oats 
one  year,  corn  the  next  year,  and 
never  returning  anything  to  the  soil. 
Hon.  James  Wilson,  Secretary  of 
Agriculture,  says  that  corn  cobs 
are  of  no  use  to  any  man.  He  is 
generally  right,  but  wrong  in  this. 
The  cobs  and  the  stalks  have  as 
much  phosphate  as  the  corn.  Stalks 
and  cobs  should  never  be  burned. 
25 


SYSTEMATIC     FARMING 

FERTILIZERS 

As  good  a  piece  of  corn  as  I  ever  saw 
was  raised  on  land  covered  with 
cobs.  In  the  old  states  they  hus- 
band their  manure  with  great  care. 
We,  in  the  West,  burn  our  straw  and 
stalks,  and  put  little  value  on  the 
manure,  which  is  a  mistake.  It 
should  all  be  saved  and  spread  on 
the  land  and  plowed  under. 

Professor  Hopkins  has  great  faith 
in  Tennessee  phosphate  rock  as  a 
cheap  fertilizer.  I  have  not  yet 
had  experience  enough  to  know  its 
true  value.  I  see  the  Agricultural 
College  of  Ohio  claims  that  when  it 
is  properly  mixed  with  manure  it  is 
worth  $50  per  ton,  as  it  will  increase 
a  crop  of  corn  that  much.  There 
is  no  doubt  in  my  mind  but  what 
Chicago  will  realize  in  fifty  years  one 
great  mistake  it  made.     We  should 

have  dug  a  tunnel  under  the  city  for 
26 


SYSTEMATIC     FARMING 

FERTILIZERS 

sewerage,  bought  some  land,  and 
saved  the  fertilizer.  We  would  then 
have  had  drainage  for  the  city,  and 
fertilizer  to  sell  to  enrich  farm  lands. 

BEAUTIFY  THE  FARM 

I  have  always  felt  that  if  the 
Illinois  farmers  would  take  down 
their  fences,  set  fruit  trees  on  the 
outside  lines  of  their  farms,  have 
only  as  many  fruit  trees  as  they  can 
care  for  and  spray  properly,  have 
a  barn  to  care  for  their  cattle,  the 
same  as  they  do  in  Germany,  and 
soil  them,  in  the  spring  Illinois  would 
be  a  picture  beyond  description, 
and  the  barns  would  not  cost  as 
much  as  the  fences. 

THE  GOOD  FARMER 

Sam  Jones,   the  great  evangelist, 
used  to  say  he  could  always  tell  a 
*f 


SYSTEMATIC     FARMING 

THE  GOOD  FARMER 

good  farmer.     If  he  saw  him  leaning 

on  the   south  side  of  the  barn  in 

March  waiting  for  the  sun  to  get 

strong,  he  never  raised  a  crop.     A 

farmer  should  always  be  ahead  of 

his  work.     He  must  get  out  early 

in  the  spring  to  get  his  crops  in; 

then  he  can  plow  his  corn,  for  the 

more    he    plows   his    corn,    if    done 

intelligently,  the  more  corn  he  will 

raise.     But  if  he  is  behind  in  his 

work,    the   corn  will  be  neglected. 

It  is  very  important  to  keep  the 

ground    mellow    if   the   weather    is 

dry,  for  then  it  will  stand  a  drought. 

If  left  hard  and  the  sun  cracks  it, 

it  will  not  hold  the  moisture;  but 

if  kept  mellow  and  in  fine  condition 

it  will  stand  a  drought  better,  and 

a  crop  of  corn  can  be  raised  if  well 

tended  and  kept  in  proper  shape. 

Don't  plow  too  deep  the  last  time 
28 


SYSTEMATIC     FARMING 

THE   GOOD   FARMER 

for  fear  of  cutting  off  the  roots. 
Every  farmer  should  try  to  plow 
his  land  very  deep  every  four  years, 
so  as  to  make  a  deep  soil.  In 
traveling  through  Italy,  where  they 
have  very  small  farms  and  not  much 
of  anything  to  fertilize  their  land, 
I  observed  that  they  spade  the  land 
two  feet  deep,  and  thus  make  a 
deep  soil. 

TILED  LAND 

A  hill  of  corn  growing  on  top  of 
tile  will  always  be  the  biggest  hill. 
Central  Illinois  is  fairly  well  tiled, 
but  still  could  be  improved  with 
more.  When  I  was  a  boy  an 
Englishman  bought  a  farm  in  Onta- 
rio County,  New  York,  on  the  banks 
of  Lake  Geneva,  which  was  con- 
sidered a  high,  dry  farm.     He  hauled 

tile  all  winter  to  tile  his  land.     The 
29 


SYSTEMATIC     FARMING 

TILED    LAND 

people  said  he  was  crazy,  that  his 
land  did  not  need  tiling;  but  he 
tiled  it,  ridges  and  all.  In  those 
days  we  were  troubled  with  the 
weevil  getting  into  the  heads  of 
wheat,  but  the  Englishman's  wheat 
was  always  ripe  before  the  others, 
and  he  raised  a  fine  crop.  His 
farm  gained  such  a  good  reputation 
that  he  sold  it  for  a  nursery  at  a  very 
high  price. 

In  riding  from  Lake  Geneva,  Wis., 
to  Chicago  I  find  that  one-fourth  of 
the  land  is  wet  and  unproductive, 
and  of  not  much  value.  If  the 
farmers  would  get  together,  hire  a 
surveyor,  find  the  proper  outlet 
and  make  an  open  drain,  they  could 
then  tile  their  land  to  it.  It  makes 
me  sick  to  see  their  cows  knee  deep 
in  the  mud,  eating  bog  grass — no 
nourishment.  If  some  of  the  young 
30 


SYSTEMATIC     FARMING 

TILED    LAND 

men  who  have  been  raised  on  farms 
and  educated  in  our  free  schools 
would  take  up  this  matter  and  get 
surveyors  to  find  the  natural  outlets, 
they  would  add  much  to  the  value 
of  their  farms.  The  drainage  law 
in  Illinois  is  good,  and  I  hope  Wis- 
consin has  as  good  a  one.  If  not, 
the  Legislature  of  Wisconsin  should 
pass  equally  as  good  a  drainage  law. 
Experience  teaches  me  that  farmers 
can  not  tile  too  much.  To  me  it  is 
a  real  pleasure  to  take  a  bad  piece 
of  land  and  make  it  into  a  garden. 

SHEEP 

For  a  small  farmer  I  think  sheep 
is  the  best  live  stock,  if  he  keeps  the 
right  kind  and  knows  how  to  care 
for  them.  Good  market  lambs  are 
in  great  demand  and  will  always 
bring  from  6  to  8  cents  per  pound, 
31 


SYSTEMATIC     FARMING 

SHEEP 

and  a  farmer  should  get  $600  to  $700 
net  on  100  ewes.  Sheep  are  better 
than  cattle  to  keep  land  in  a  state 
of  high  cultivation.  Take  any  of 
our  good  Illinois  land  and  divide  it 
into  four  fields;  raise  80  acres  of 
corn,  40  acres  of  clover,  and  40  acres 
of  rye,  sowing  the  rye  after  the  corn 
is  cut  up.  Probably  a  farm  of  100 
to  160  acres  would  not  keep  more 
than  80  good  ewes,  but,  by  buying 
a  little  fertilizer,  having  one-fourth 
of  the  land  always  in  clover,  I  think 
the  land  could  be  kept  up,  as  he 
would  have  the  manure.  I  think 
a  man  working  a  farm  on  this  sys- 
tem necessarily  would  have  to  buy 
a  little  commercial  fertilizer — some 
phosphate  rock  or  bone  meal. 


32 


SYSTEMATIC     FARMING 

WEEDS 

When  you  sow  clover  with  your 
oats,  rye,  or  wheat,  if  the  land  is 
rich  and  you  get  any  rain  in  August, 
the  weeds  will  start.  They  should 
be  moved  the  first  of  September, 
when  green,  before  they  go  to  seed. 
They  will  rot  quickly  and  make 
some  fertilizer.  The  clover  will  have 
a  chance  to  grow  in  September  and 
October  and  make  a  good  root,  and 
will  make  a  much  better  crop  the 
next  year.  The  bigger  the  clover,  the 
bigger  the  next  crop  of  corn  will  be. 

EARLY  POTATOES 

To  raise  early  potatoes,  plow  the 
ground  in  the  fall.  Then  plow  out 
a  trench  early  in  the  spring  and 
fill  the  trench  with  good  horse 
manure ;  tread  it  down  well,  and  put 
a  little  dirt  on  the  manure;  plant 
the  potatoes,  and  this  will  give  you 

33 


SYSTEMATIC     FARMING 

EARLY  POTATOES 

early  potatoes.  You  can  plant  this 
same  ground  in  late  potatoes,  which 
are  better  for  the  winter.  You  can 
start  early  lettuce  and  radishes  in  a 
trench  of  this  kind,  and  in  this  way 
get  them  two  weeks  earlier  than  by 
planting  on  top  of  the  ground,  as 
is  usually  done. 

HOW  TO  GET  A  START 

The  young  man  says,  "This  is  all 
right  for  the  man  who  has  his  own 
farm,  but  what  am  I  to  do  ?  I  have 
nothing  but  my  hands  and  good 
health."  I  will  tell  you.  Hire  out 
to  some  farmer,  by  the  year,  for 
$250  and  board;  save  $200  of  it,  and 
deposit  it  in  a  good  bank  until  you 
can  invest  it  safely.  Keep  on  until 
you  have  $1,500  saved,  and  then 
rent  a  farm.  You  would  then  have 
a  character  and  credit,  and  would 
34 


SYSTEMATIC     FARMING 

HOW  TO  GET  A  START 

have  no  trouble  in  renting  a  farm. 
With  good  health,  nothing  could 
prevent  you  from  owning  a  farm. 
Get  married  when  you  have  enough 
to  start  in  life  with. 

KEEP  THE  LAND  UP 

To  be  prosperous  and  successful, 
the  farmer  must  study  how  to  keep 
his  land  in  a  state  of  high  cultiva- 
tion, for  if  in  this  state,  he  will  raise 
only  a  fairly  good  crop  in  a  bad 
year.  If  his  land  is  run  down,  of 
course  he  will  raise  a  poor  crop,  and 
when  his  land  gets  poor,  he  will 
grow  poor. 

GIVE  THE  CHILDREN  AN  INTEREST 

Many  farmers  who  are  in  debt 
think  they  cannot  afford  to  give 
their  children  anything,  but  this  is 
a  great  mistake.     Give  them  some- 

35 


SYSTEMATIC     FARMING 

GIVE  THE  CHILDREN  AN  INTEREST 

thing  to  be  their  own.  You  must 
do  this  if  you  want  right-thinking 
boys  and  girls,  and  you  will  have 
more  willing  hands  to  help  you  get 
out  of  debt.  I  knew  a  farmer 
living  in  Ohio  who  gave  his  daughter 
the  privilege  of  raising  chickens. 
She  made  more  money  in  this  way 
than  he  made  on  his  farm,  and 
resulted  in  his  turning  his  farm  into 
a  chicken  farm.  So  you  see  he  gained 
by  giving  his  daughter  something 
of  her  own. 

Give  a  boy  an  acre  of  corn  as  his 
own  and  he  will  commence  to  think, 
read,  and  study  how  to  raise  the 
greatest  number  of  bushels.  He 
will  find  that  two  spears  of  corn 
growing  together  are  natural  ene- 
mies. Let  him  plant  his  corn  in  a 
place  twelve  to  fifteen  inches  apart; 
cultivate  it  on  a  flat  surface  and  at 
36 


SYSTEMATIC     FARMING 

GIVE  THE  CHILDREN  AN  INTEREST 

least  six  times.  In  that  way  it  can 
be  kept  clean.  If  planted  in  drills 
and  in  a  furrow  the  dirt  will  natur- 
ally work  all  around  the  corn.  He 
will  see  his  father  planting  on  top  of 
the  ground,  in  hills,  with  three  to 
five  spears,  as  a  rule  never  getting 
more  than  three  ears  on  a  hill, 
generally  two.  The  father  will  be 
putting  his  plow  in  deep  the  latter 
part  of  June,  cutting  the  roots  of 
the  corn,  hilling  his  corn  to  destroy 
the  weeds,  and  the  wind  drying  out 
the  hills.  He  will  hear  his  father 
complain  of  dry  weather  in  July  and 
August — corn  firing.  His  father  will 
say  to  his  neighbor,  "It  is  getting 
very  dry,  but  my  son  has  an  acre  of 
corn  that  does  not  fire,  and  it  looks 
as  if  he  would  raise  two  bushels  of 
corn  to  my  one."  The  neighbor  will 
say,  "I  don't  see  how  you  keep  your 

37 


SYSTEMATIC     FARMING 

GIVE  THE  CHILDREN  AH  INTEREST 

children  at  home;  my  boys  seem  to 
dislike  a  farm,  and  want  to  get  on 
the  railroad."  This  neighbor,  it 
seems,  gave  his  son  a  colt,  but  after 
it  grew  up  the  old  man  sold  it,  and 
put  the  money  in  his  own  pocket. 
Consequently  the  son  naturally 
thinks  the  farm  a  poor  place  to  live. 
When  I  was  a  boy  and  lived  on  a 
farm,  I  was  considered  the  best  boy 
to  work  in  Yates  County,  New  York. 
I  had  a  small  interest,  and  this 
individuality  gave  me  courage  to 
work  for  something  of  my  own. 
With  self-denial  I  saved  $3,200  and 
established  a  character  and  credit 
so  I  could  borrow  $5,000  on  my 
name.  My  credit  was  worth  as 
much  to  me  as  the  $3,200  I  had 
worked  twelve  years  to  save.  No 
boy  can  succeed  unless  he  can  build 
up  a  character  and  credit.  I  have 
38 


SYSTEMATIC     FARMING 

GIVE  THE  CHILDREN  AN  INTEREST 

young  men  on  my  farm  who  started 
to  work  for  me  by  the  month  and 
now  own  160  acres  of  good  land. 

CLAY  LAND 

A  farmer  having  clay  soil  should 
plant  corn  only  on  sod.  If  the  land 
is  good  wheat  land,  plant  the  corn 
4*4  feet  apart,  a  spear  for  every  nine 
inches,  and  then  cultivate  the  wheat 
in  the  corn.  This  is  one  of  the 
cheapest  ways  of  raising  wheat. 
You  have  summer  fallowed  your 
land  all  summer  by  plowing  corn. 
In  the  spring  sow  the  clover  seed, 
and  as  soon  as  the  ground  is  dry 
enough  so  the  horses  will  not  sink 
into  the  ground,  drag  the  wheat  and 
roll  it.  This  will  help  the  wheat, 
as  it  loosens  the  crust  formed  in  the 
winter.  You  will  have  a  fine  stand 
of  clover,  which  will  be  knee  high 

39 


SYSTEMATIC     FARMING 

CLAY  LAND 

in  the  fall.  Pasture  it  one  summer, 
or  cut  and  soil  it,  and  put  what 
manure  you  have  back  on  the  land. 
The  next  year  it  will  be  ready  for 
another  corn  crop,  but  if  the  land 
is  weak  and  not  rich  soil,  it  should 
be  pastured  two  years.  If  the  land 
is  good  wheat  land  and  fairly  good 
corn  land,  it  should  be  divided  into 
four  fields,  so  as  to  have  one-fourth 
in  corn  and  one-fourth  in  wheat.  If 
good  land,  it  could  be  worked  on 
the  three-field  system — corn,  wheat, 
and  clover — and  keep  the  land  up. 
I  once  knew  a  lawyer  who  lived  in 
Ontario  County  in  the  State  of  New 
York,  who  had  a  hard  clay  farm — 
good  wheat  land.  He  kept  one- 
half  in  wheat,  dragged  his  wheat 
every  spring,  sowed  his  clover  seed, 
rolled  it,  and  pastured  his  clover  the 

next  summer;  mowed  part  of  it  for 
40 


SYSTEMATIC     FARMING 

CLAY   LAND 

hay,  and  kept  a  flock  of  sheep.  His 
clover  generally  grew  up  in  his 
wheat  stubble  in  the  fall,  and  he 
broke  his  clover  sod  and  sowed  it  to 
wheat.  In  that  way  he  kept  one- 
half  his  land  in  wheat  and  one-half 
in  clover.  He  always  raised  the 
best  wheat  in  the  country,  and  he 
was  a  lawyer  at  that,  and  they  are 
generally  poor  farmers.  Of  course, 
a  farmer  cultivating  a  wheat  farm 
in  this  way  should  keep  sheep. 

SYSTEM 

Generally,  farmers  have  no  sys- 
tem. They  fail  to  lay  out  their  land 
into  lots  so  they  can  adopt  a  system 
of  rotation.  It  is  of  great  impor- 
tance to  know  each  year  where  to 
sow  and  plant  corn,  oats,  or  rye. 
It  is  very  important  to  get  a  good 
set  of  clover.  Northern  Illinois 
41 


SYSTEMATIC     FARMING 

SYSTEM 

raises  corn  and  oats,  but  if  the  land 

is  rich,  the  oats  will  fall  down — and 

it  is  a  gamble  whether  you  get  a 

good  set  of  clover  or  not.     We  find 

by  cultivating  clover  in,  the  same 

as  we  do  oats,  we  get  a  better  stand, 

as  it  gets  a  bigger  root   and   lives 

through  the  hot  weather,  after  the 

oat  crop  is  harvested.     But  to   be 

sure   of   a   stand   a   farmer   should 

raise    one-half   rye.     If   the    rye    is 

dragged  in  the  spring,  and  the  crust 

broken,  the  clover  is  sure  to  get  a 

good  stand.     With  clover  I  should 

always  sow  two  quarts  of  timothy. 

Orchard  grass  is  better,  if  you  can 

get  the  seed.     A  good  many  of  our 

agricultura.1  societies  recommend 

what  they  call  a  catch  crop,  such  as 

suey  beans  and  other  crops  of  that 

kind,  to  be  sown  in  with  your  corn. 

But    if   you   raise   a   crop    of   corn 
42 


SYSTEMATIC     FARMING 

SYSTEM 

worthy  of  a  good  farmer,  a  catch  crop 
will  not  amount  to  anything,  for  it 
will  not  grow  in  with  big  corn. 

THE  HOG  THE  MORTGAGE  PAYER 

I  have  always  found  the  hog  to  be 
the  money  maker  on  a  farm;  but 
we  all  fear  the  cholera.  My  con- 
victions are  that  cholera  is  produced 
by  over-feeding  of  corn.  Farmers 
should  raise  some  barley  to  be 
ground,  for  a  change  of  feed.  To 
raise  hogs  with  a  profit  you  should 
have  your  sows  pig  in  February. 
Take  1 6-foot  boards  and  saw  them 
in  two;  make  a  coop  fastened  up 
tight  on  both  ends,  and  have  a  door 
for  the  sow  to  go  through.  Put 
straw  around  it,  or  bank  it  up  with 
dirt,  so  as  to  keep  it  warm.  Have 
some  warm  slop  for  the  sows  when 
they  pig,  so  as  to  make  milk  for  the 

43 


SYSTEMATIC     FARMING 

THE  HOG  THE  MORTGAGE  PAYER 

pigs.  When  young,  keep  them 
growing  with  slop  of  barley,  oats,  or 
rye,  or  some  other  grains,  and,  of 
course,  in  the  spring  it  will  be  well 
to  make  a  temporary  fence  and  fence 
up  a  few  acres  of  clover  for  them  to 
run  in.  If  fed  a  little  grain  while 
running  in  this  clover,  they  would 
make  that  piece  of  clover  land  very 
rich.  By  having  your  pigs  come  in 
February,  you  are  enabled  to  get 
them  fat  and  sell  them  by  December, 
and  not  be  obliged  to  feed  them 
through  the  winter.  It  costs  money 
to  winter  pigs,  although  a  little 
alfalfa,  cured  nicely,  will  be  a  great 
help  in  wintering  your  pigs  or  brood 
sows.  They  will  eat  it  like  a  steer 
eats  hay,  and  you  can  winter  a 
brood  sow  on  alfalfa  with  very 
little  corn. 

During  all  the  years  that  I  per- 

44 


SYSTEMATIC     FARMING 

THE  HOG  THE  MORTGAGE  PAYER 

sonally  lived  on  a  farm,  we  never 
made  any  money  unless  we  had 
some  pigs  to  sell.  In  Illinois  they 
are  called  "mortgage  payers/'  which, 
I  guess,  is  the  proper  name  for  them. 
When  my  son  first  commenced 
farming,  he  said,  "I  see  one  of  your 
drawbacks  is  you  lose  your  hogs  with 
the  cholera.  When  I  was  in  France, 
I  found  the  farmers  who  raised 
chickens  made  little  coops  and 
scattered  the  chickens  over  the 
farm,  so  as  to  keep  but  a  few 
together."  He  thought  he  would 
make  some  hog  coops  similar  in 
shape,  but  larger,  and  scatter  them 
over  the  farm  and  in  this  way  avoid 
the  cholera.  He  did  this  and  has 
been  very  successful  so  far  in  raising 
hogs.  He  is  now  raising  barley  to 
grind  and  feed  his  hogs,  for  a  change 
from  too  much  corn. 

45 


SYSTEMATIC     FARMING 

COUNTRY  LIFE  THE  BEST 

People  in  the  country  think  living 
in  the  city  yields  more  pleasure  than 
country  life;  but  this  is  a  mistake. 
Two-thirds  of  the  people  living  in 
the  city  don't  live  half  as  well  as 
those  living  in  the  country.  Having 
lived  on  a  farm  for  fourteen  years  of 
my  life,  I  know,  and  I  am  sure  I  had 
as  much  pleasure  as  the  people  in  the 
city.  Mothers  in  the  country  have 
confidence  in  their  daughters  and 
sons,  and  are  not  obliged  to  have 
chaperons.  We  enjoyed  going  to 
dances,  parties,  socials,  and  sleigh- 
rides  as  well  as  the  young  people  in 
the  city.  People  think  that  the 
rich  get  more  pleasure  and  happiness 
out  of  life  than  the  people  in  mod- 
erate circumstances.  This  is  another 
mistake .  The  rich  are  not  the  happy 
people  of  the  world.     I  don't  think 

the  richest  man  in  the  world  gets  as 
46 


SYSTEMATIC     FARMING 

COUNTRY  LIFE  THE  BEST 

much  pleasure  out  of  life  as  the 
young  man  who  starts  out  to  estab- 
lish a  character  and  a  credit,  marries 
some  noble  young  woman,  builds  a 
home  he  can  afford,  surrounds  him- 
self with  true  friends,  and  lives  a 
manly  life. 

I  say  to  the  farmers'  boys  that 
you  are  needed  in  the  city,  for  nearly 
all  city  boys  degenerate  in  the  third 
generation.  But  never  go  to  the  city 
until  you  have  accomplished  some- 
thing at  home.  If  you  do,  you  will  fail. 

In  traveling  abroad  and  seeing 
how  they  live  in  the  old  world,  I 
can't  help  but  feel  that  a  child  is 
blessed  when  born  in  Illinois. 
Think  of  the  children  born  in  great 
cities,  living  on  the  sidewalks  and 
brought  up  in  sorrow,  crime,  and 
hunger.  Chicago  arrests  17,000 
young  boys  yearly,  who  have  been 

41 


SYSTEMATIC     FARMING 

COUNTRY  LIFE  THE  BEST 

brought  up  in  misery  and  never 
know  when  they  will  get  a  full  meal. 
Are  not  children  blessed  who  are 
brought  up  in  the  country? 

Jim  Hill  has  given  the  American 
people  warning  of  over-confidence  in 
believing  our  land  will  always  pro- 
duce great  crops  without  greater 
intelligence  in  farming.  Such  men 
as  Hill  and  Harriman  are  great 
public  benefactors,  as  they  develop 
great  industries.  Harriman  bought 
the  Southern  Pacific  railroad  and 
invested  all  of  its  earnings  in  the 
improvement  thereof  for  four  years, 
finally  securing  a  safe  road  for  the 
people  to  ride  on.  Why  should  we 
be  jealous  of  such  men?  They  have 
worked  for  us.  They  can't  develop 
the  country  without  benefitting  all 
of  us.  They  can't  get  any  more 
happiness  than  the  average  man  who 


SYSTEMATIC     FARMING 

COUNTRY  LIFE  THE  BEST 

lives  a  manly  life.  Possibly  a  little 
more  notoriety;  but  are  they  not 
entitled  to  some  credit  of  their 
work?  Their  efforts  have  benefitted 
the  entire  American  people. 

SEED 

It  is  just  as  important  to  have  a 
good  seed  corn  as  to  have  a  good 
breed  of  cattle.  To  breed  corn  is 
very  simple.  Take  twelve  good, 
selected  ears  of  corn;  plant  one  row 
with  the  corn  from  one  ear,  and  the 
next  row  with  the  corn  from  another 
ear.  When  the  tassels  form,  pull 
off  the  tassels  from  every  other  row, 
so  the  row  from  which  the  tassels 
have  been  removed  will  have  to 
breed  from  the  next  row,  and  in  this 
way  the  corn  does  not  inbreed.  Do 
this  for  a  few  years,  and  you  will 
have  perfect  corn  for  seed. 

49 


SYSTEMATIC     FARMING 

SEED 

I  think  it  is  important  to  change 
your  oats.  I  find  by  buying  oats 
grown  in  Northern  Wisconsin  that 
we  raise  a  better  crop  of  oats  in 
Central  Illinois.  It  is  always  very 
important  to  have  good  seed  of  all 
kinds,  and  I  think  it  a  great  benefit 
to  change  your  seeds  from  the 
North  to  the  South. 

THE  FARMER'S  POLITICAL  DUTIES 

I  have  always  believed  that  the 
success  of  this  great  republic  depends 
largely  upon  the  intelligence  of  the 
American  farmer,  as  great  cities 
become  more  or  less  demoralized, 
and  are  always  scheming  to  obtain 
something  for  nothing,  advocating 
socialism,  and  Municipal  and  Govern- 
ment Ownership,  which  would  con- 
centrate the  powers  of  the  Govern- 
ment. The  party  in  power  would 
50 


SYSTEMATIC     FARMING 

THE  FARMER'S  POLITICAL  DUTIES 

always  remain  in  power;  the 
people  would  lose  the  benefit  of  the 
elective  franchise,  and  thus  destroy 
the  principles  this  Government  was 
founded  on,  viz.:  Individual  rights 
with  reciprocal  duties.  In  fact,  we 
would  soon  be  a  Government  as 
arbitrary  as  the  Russian  Govern- 
ment. The  man  in  power  would 
wield  so  great  an  influence  that  he 
could  not  be  removed.  With  Muni- 
cipal Ownership  of  street  railroads, 
water  works,  and  gas  plants  the 
employes  would  all  have  to  be 
politicians.  They  would  control  a 
power  greater  than  money.  They, 
of  course,  all  have  friends,  and  when 
we  have  an  election  they  would 
say,  "If  we  don't  elect  the  party  in 
power  we  will  lose  our  jobs,"  and 
in  this  way  they  would  control  every 
election.  The  same  with  Govern- 
51 


SYSTEMATIC     FARMING 

THE  FARMER'S  POLITICAL  DUTIES 

merit  Ownership.  An  ambitious 
President  of  the  United  States  would 
have  the  power  to  renominate  him- 
self. As  it  is  to-day,  he  may  not  be 
elected;  but  give  him  control  of  all 
the  railroads  and  he  would  elect 
himself. 

We  better  stand  by  the  principles 
our  forefathers  laid  down:  "Give 
every  man  a  chance  to  do  some- 
thing," to  build  up  some  industry, 
something  that  would  benefit  man- 
kind, instead  of  making  every  man 
subject  to  the  dictation  of  some  one 
man  in  power.  I  fully  realize  the. 
danger  of  concentrating  the  powers 
of  this  great  free  country  into  a  few 
men's  hands,  and  I  believe  every 
man  who  loves  the  principles  of  our 
country  has  a  duty  to  do  in  trying 
to  prevent  this. 


52 


SYSTEMATIC     FARMING 

THE  FARMER'S  POLITICAL  DUTIES 

Abraham  Lincoln  said  our  Govern- 
ment is  "a  Government  of  the 
people,  by  the  people,  and  for  the 
people."  If  we  had  Government 
Ownership  and  Municipal  Owner- 
ship, the  party  in  power  would 
remain  in  power.  Would  it  then  be  a 
Government  of  the  people,  by  the 
people,  and  for  the  people?  Would 
it  not  become  an  arbitrary  Govern- 
ment controlled  by  a  few  who  are 
in  power?  I  think  it  is  wise  to 
shun  political  parties  who  advocate 
Government  Ownership  and  Muni- 
cipal control,  if  we  wish  to  have  a 
free  Government  controlled  by  the 
people. 

I  think  the  farmers  should  take 
a  greater  interest  in  politics.  The 
politician  who  tries  to  divide  our 
people  into  classes  by  appealing  to 
prejudices  and  jealousies  is  a  dan- 

53 


SYSTEMATIC     FARMING 

THE  FARMER'S  POLITICAL  DUTIES 

gerous  man.  I  have  heard  men  say 
that  a  national  debt  is  a  national 
blessing.  But  a  nation  in  debt  is 
not  different  from  a  farmer  in  debt, 
for  the  debt  must  be  paid.  In  the 
old  world  at  least  one-half  the 
people's  earnings  or  income  must  go 
to  the  Government;  consequently 
it  is  hard  for  a  young  man  to  get 
started  in  life  in  his  own  country. 
The  bright  ones  generally  come  to 
our  country.  We  now  have  poli- 
ticians clamoring  for  Government 
Ownership  and  Government  con- 
trol. "What  will  the  result  be?  A 
great  national  debt  will  be  piled  up. 
As  an  illustration,  think  what  it 
costs  the  Government  to  do  any 
public  work.  The  Government  has 
been  fifteen  years  digging  the  Henne- 
pin Canal,  which  is  only  ninety  miles 
long  and  sixty  feet  wide — and  no 

54 


SYSTEMATIC     FARMING 

THE  FARMER'S  POLITICAL  DUTIES 

boat  can  draw  over  four  feet — and 
is  costing  millions  of  dollars. 

The  farmers  of  Henry  County  are 
digging  a  ditch  22  miles  long,  100 
feet  wide,  and  11  feet  deep  for 
$400,000.  They  could  have  dug 
the  Hennepin  Canal  in  two  years 
for  one-fourth  the  amount  it  will 
cost  the  Government  to  do  the  work. 
Politicians  are  circulating  a  petition 
to  get  Congress  to  appropriate  money 
to  build  a  ship  canal  down  the  Illi- 
nois River,  which  would  fill  up  with 
sand  every  spring  and  be  another 
Hennepin  Canal,  and  practically  of 
no  use  to  any  one. 

Canals  are  obsolete.  Every  intel- 
ligent man  knows  that  a  double- 
track  electric  freight  railroad,  to 
run  at  the  rate  of  twenty  miles  per 
hour,  would  haul  the  products  from 
Chicago  to  New  Orleans  for  less  than 

55 


SYSTEMATIC     FARMING 


THE  FARMER'S  POLITICAL  DUTIES 

it  would  cost  to  tow  a  barge  up  the 
river  against  the  current.  A  double- 
track  electric  road  would  not  cost 
one-tenth  as  much  as  a  ship  canal, 
and  this  would  be  business — not 
sentiment.  When  they  had  the  ship 
canal  completed,  costing  untold  mil- 
lions, with  its  locks  and  water-power, 
people  would  want  bread.  The 
locks  would  prohibit  the  reclaiming 
of  millions  of  acres  of  the  richest 
land  in  the  world.  These  locks 
would  have  to  come  out. 

A  great  national  debt  means  taxa- 
tion. Government  Ownership  and 
Government  control  means  that  the 
individual  energy  of  the  nation  will 
be  broken.  We  would  be  retro- 
grading— would  be  a  nation  of  tax- 
payers controlled  by  Government 
officials,  and  our  individual  inde- 
pendence would  be  destroyed. 
56 


SYSTEMATIC     FARMING 

THE  FARMER'S  POLITICAL  DUTIES 

The  great  men  of  our  nation  have 
been  running  our  Government  on 
sentiment  for  the  last  ten  years. 
Out  of  sentiment  we  commenced 
war  with  Spain  to  defend  Cuba.  We 
spent  millions  and  sacrificed  the 
lives  of  our  soldiers,  and,  through 
sentiment,  said  to  Cuba,  "You  may- 
have  your  independence."  An  Eng- 
lish statesman  would  have  said, 
"You  may  get  under  the  old  flag  and 
be  one  of  us,  but  if  you  wish  to  be 
an  independent  nation,  you  must 
give  us  bonds  for  what  we  have 
spent  in  defending  you."  We  should 
possess  Cuba  for  a  national  defense, 
but  can  we  afford  to  spend  millions 
to  protect  it  when  it  is  of  no  use  to 
us  during  a  war?  We  bought  the 
Philippine  Islands  and  are  now 
spending  $50,000,000  to  educate  its 
people,  some  of  whom  have  twenty 

57 


SYSTEMATIC     FARMING 

THE  FARMER'S  POLITICAL  DUTIES 

wives,  which  means  a  good  many 
children  for  us  to  educate.  We  did 
not  need  the  Philippine  Islands — 
far  better  for  us  to  take  care  of  our 
own  people.  In  our  large  cities  no 
less  than  100,000  boys  (brought  into 
the  world  by  degenerate  parents,  and 
raised  in  crime,  sorrow,  and  hunger) 
are  arrested  yearly — and  we  send 
them  to  reformatory  prisons  to  be 
pushed  on  downward.  Is  it  any 
wonder  that  our  land  is  filled  with 
criminals  ? 

We  are  spending  millions  to  build 
the  Panama  Canal.  It  will  probably 
take  forty  years  to  build  it,  and  it 
will  cost  one  thousand  millions  of 
dollars.  This  is  being  done  by  pub- 
lic sentiment — not  good  judgment. 
We  could  build  good  docks  on  each 
side,  with  proper  facilities  for  load- 
ing, unloading,  and  transporting  the 
58 


SYSTEMATIC     FARMING 

THE  FARMER'S  POLITICAL  DUTIES 

products  across  the  isthmus,  for  one- 
tenth  of  what  it  will  cost  with  a 
lock  canal. 

We  may  stand  it  now  that  we  are 
young  and  rich,  but  future  genera- 
tions will  have  to  pay  the  debt.  If 
we  continue  to  run  the  nation  on 
sentiment,  we  will  burden  ourselves 
with  such  a  national  debt  that  a 
farmer  will  not  be  able  to  buy  a  plow 
without  having  the  Government 
stamp  on  it,  and  a  nation  filled  with 
Government  officials  to  collect  taxes. 

SELECT  YOUR  REPRESENTATIVES 
CAREFULLY 

Every  man  who  loves  the  success 
of  this  great  Republic — a  land  of 
equal  rights  to  all — must  see  that 
professional  politicians  are  not  the 
right  men  to  administer  the  affairs 
of  this  nation.     The  judges  who  have 

59 


SYSTEMATIC     FARMING 

SELECT  YOUR  REPRESENTATIVES  CAREFULLY 

served  the  people  faithfully  for  fif- 
teen to  twenty  years  are  the  ones 
who  should  be  honored  by  being  sent 
to  the  Senate  and  the  House  of 
Representatives . 


60 


SYSTEMATIC     FARMING 


CORN  BREAD 

One  cup  and  a  half  of  white  corn- 
meal;  a  pinch  of  salt,  and  butter 
the  size  of  a  large  walnut;  pour  on 
boiling  water,  and  stir  until  you  have 
a  thick  batter;  then  drop  in  the 
yolks  of  three  eggs  and  the  beaten 
whites ;  add  a  teaspoonf ul  of  baking 
powder.  Bake  three-quarters  of  an 
hour. 


61 


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